CTV Two

Canucks supporters assaulted by fans in Boston

Several Vancouver Canucks fans seeing Game 3 in Boston Monday night say they were verbally and physically assaulted by Bruins supporters when the on-ice violence spilled over the boards, first into the stands and then onto the street.

Canucks fans who spoke to CTV News claim the crowd inside TD garden was outraged by their presence, saying some took out their anger on the Vancouver fans who traveled thousands of kilometres to Beantown to watch.

Rob Young said the tension inside the arena was so high that taunts quickly turned to violence, with one Bruins fan head butting a nearby Vancouver supporter.

"The Boston guy went for a head butt and head butted one of the Vancouver fans and it started a big kafuffle right away," Young told CTV News.

"And to the credit of Vancouver fans, they backed away and then the cops came pretty quickly."

Spencer Sangara said he left the game early after experiencing two hours of taunting and provoking.

"People were confronting us, trying to fight us in the hallways and stuff like that," he told CTV News in Boston.

"And even out on the streets after it was a mob like walking back to the hotel. A guy tried to pull us out of the cab and was like trying to confront us there."

A group of female Canucks-jersey clad fans said they had pepper thrown at them by men wearing Bruins jerseys.

"They're not very nice. We're very accepting of the whole thing and they're very, very mean," one said.

But tormented Canucks fans will get no sympathy from Milan Lucic, an East Vancouver-raised Boston Bruin, who says even his own family has been the subject of ribbing.

"I remember after Game 1 in Vancouver people were throwing popcorn and peanuts at my grandparents. That's about as low as it gets," he said during a media scrum at the arena.

Joe Fallon, a concierge at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel, says he's heard it all before from visiting fans, but things usually stay civil.

"There are some goofballs in the crowd that's the worst I could say in any sports city mostly. In Boston, we try to stay well behaved," Fallon said.

The Boston police refused an interview request by CTV on Tuesday, however a spokesperson said the crowd after the game was "generally well behaved" and met their expectations.